-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- China 's top foreign policy official met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il Thursday and the two sides `` reached consensus '' about defusing tensions on the Korean peninsula , officials said .

The meeting marks the first between Kim and a top official from China since the flareup between the two Koreas .

`` The two sides reached consensus on bilateral relations and the situation on the Korean Peninsula after candid and in-depth talks , '' said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu .

She did not elaborate on what Kim discussed with the official , Dai Bingguo , during the latter 's visit to Pyongyang .

Tensions on the Korean peninsula escalated following North Korea 's shelling of South Korea 's Yeonpyeong Island last month , as well as the March sinking of a South Korean warship -- allegedly by a North Korean torpedo -- and recent revelations that it is enriching uranium for nuclear weapons .

North Korean officials have been pushing for the resumption of six-party talks including China and Russia .

China has also called for `` emergency '' talks among all the six countries -- North Korea , South Korea , China , the United States , Japan and Russia -- to address the tensions on the Korean peninsula .

But the United States has thus far refused , looking first for proof that North Korea is serious about not stoking military tensions and serious about stifling development of its nuclear program .

For the second day in a row , the head of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff called on China to use its influence instead to rein in North Korea to prevent a full-blown crisis . China is North Korea 's strongest ally and largest trading partner .

`` I actually believe that because these provocations continue and seemingly at a frequent interval , that the danger is going up and that steps must be taken to ensure that they stop , '' he said at a news conference in Tokyo .

`` Much of that volatility is owed to the reckless behavior of the North Korean regime , enabled by their friends in China . ''

CNN 's Jo Kent contributed to this report

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NEW : Mullen calls North Korea 's behavior `` reckless ''

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The meeting between the two nations is the first since the flareup

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Official : `` The two sides reached consensus ''

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Mullen challenges China to use its influence with North Korea